Wanna know best breath technique

[northernone]

I would like to see this done at depth. I definitely breathe less underwater than I do on land.

Those rebreather divers who use a leaky valve style o2 addition system have good data on metabolic rates at depth under various workloads.

Here's a quick link:
Rebreather - Wikipedia

Under general concept.

It will give a few references and the terminology to research around.

 

[socaljohn]

A lot of it is just being comfortable underwater, I found somewhere between 60 and 75 dives I suddenly started doing much better without doing anything special.

 

[Divectionist]

I disagree with the 'just breathe, don't worry about it' approach.

On top of the basics of good buoyancy and trim, streamlining gear and minimising inefficient movement, and exercising above the water, there are clear benefits to be gained from aware breathing. I played with this quite a bit, monitoring SAC on the computer.

This is due to both CO2 level management as well as other physiological effects of deep and slow breathing.

I suggest:
- aim for a breathing rate of 4-5 breaths per minute. Practice on the surface.
- ideally 7 seconds in, 1 second transition pause, 7 seconds out followed by an immediate breath in, repeat.
- modify whether you are breathing with full or relatively empty lungs only for descending, buoyancy fine tuning, and ascending. Otherwise focus on facilitating a proper gas exchange.
- become periodically mindful of your breathing pattern and use this awareness to draw your attention to the moment, making your dive more enjoyable as a side effect.
- allow yourself to breathe more when exerting yourself, the slow pattern is for cruising, not meant to reign in and complicate periods of hard work.

Compare the average SAC across dives and notice the improvement and then stabilisation of the rate. Benchmark only based on your own body and data.

 

[hroark2112]

My opinion (since no one asked!)

Don’t waste your energy “timing” your breathing. If you’re spending your dive thinking “one one thousand....two one thousand...” you’re missing the purpose of the dive (unless your purpose is to learn to count). Ideal breathing is different for every person and would vary depending on the conditions anyway.

Get your trim and buoyancy dialed in. Relax and learn to fully exhale. Reduce the amount of lead you’re carrying. Relax. Take time to enjoy the dive and have fun. Slow down. The less energy you expend, the less you’ll need to breathe. Less air wasted going into and out of your BC means more air for you to breathe. Did I mention relax, slow down, and have fun??

Finally don’t obsess over your air consumption. One of my dive buddies obsessed over the amount of air left at the end of the dive. It gets old. If you want longer dives while you work on improving your air consumption, dive bigger tanks.

Oh yeah....relax, slow down, and have fun!!

 

[walkonmars]

Diving more reduces a person's air consumption in most cases. Newer divers I have buddy dove with always consumed air faster than me or my experienced buddies.
Earlier in my life I would try to breathe deeper because I was told to do it.
Now I realize breathing deeper (deeper inhale) has a calming affect and causes your follow up breathes to be slower. (Yoga practitioners chime in. I don't do any yoga.)
The greater volume of a deeper breath is offset by a savings of slower follow up breaths (in my opinion).
I have somewhere around 400-500 dives now and have likely incorporated subconsciously deeper inhale volumes. I need to consciously breathe deeper when I exert at a high level or have nervous moments because the body wants to react by faster respiration rates that accompany (normally on land) the faster heart rate.
The dive experience also caused me to outgrow "dry mouth" during dives. I seem to be swallowing spit and gulping with my tongue subconsciously more often as a "learned" response to dry mouth. These changes seemed to have happened around the 100-150 dive count range, although I can't say for certain.
Try taking occasional deep breaths at first (when you can remember.). I suspect through experience your underwater resting breathing will become deeper and slower even when you don't try to breathe deeper. I wonder if this is similar biathlon participants being able to lower their heart rates faster than normal people?

 

[ajduplessis]

Breath in, breath out works good.

 

[Mike1967]

Breath in, breath out works good.

No no no!
It's breath out then breath in.

 

[ofg-1]

Breathing is a lot like sex. In-Out-Repeat as needed.

 

[ajduplessis]

No no no!
It's breath out then breath in.

You are doing it wrong....

First breath is always in (first thing you did when born), and then breath out which will also be the last thing you will do before leaving this world.

 

[Zef]

Many new divers are overly concerned with how much air they use each dive. Typically one's air consumption improves as one reaches the point they stop thinking about their air consumption.

Relax, enjoy the scenery under the water, and don't worry about breathing patterns. Ignore the knuckleheads that insist on comparing how much air they have used/have left at the end of the dive with everyone around them. Diving is not a competitive activity and the person who used less air during a particular dive is not the winner.

Better air consumption comes with experience in the water, the more comfortable you are, the better your body position (trim), appropriate amounts of weight, proper exposure protection, familiarity with the site, etc are all some of the factors that contribute to better air consumption.

If you are insistent on doing something to improve your air consumption then I suggest doing static and active apnea drills. It should, at a minimum, increase your comfort level and confidence under water.

-Z